Flames Edged 5-3 By Kraken

The Flames fell 5-3 to the visiting Kraken in a penalty-filled affair at the Scotiabank Saddledome Monday night.

It was the first of two split-squad games, this one starting an hour before another contingent of Flames took to the ice down in Seattle (see below for the lineups).

Walker Duehr, Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane scored for the Flames, while Dustin Wolf stopped 24 shots in his first start of the preseason.

There was a scary moment with just seven seconds left in the opening frame. Kraken forward Marian Studenic was given a five-minute boarding major and tossed for the game after hitting Jakob Pelletier, who was slow to get up and skate off and did not return after the intermission.

Head Coach Ryan Huska told media postgame that it was an upper-body injury and the team would know more Tuesday.

Duehr opened the scoring just 3:25, putting a backhand shortside high past Chris Driedger as the Flames forward skated across the slot. Clark Bishop and Pelletier got the helpers.

The visitors answered back less than two minutes later, Cale Fleury finding net with a well-placed wrister from the right faceoff dot.

Wolf came up big near the midway point of the frame, stopping Studenic's shot off a 3-on-1 Kraken rush.

The Flames came close to restoring their lead in the second period after Bishop, parked right on the doorstep near the far post, tipped a lovely cross-ice pass from Duehr but Driedger came across to stymy him.

The howls erupted for Wolf after he made a stellar stop on Tye Kartye right in the slot after a turnover, keeping the game deadlocked.

Not long after, the visitors did find that second tally on a 5-on-3 powerplay when Kailer Yamamoto finished off a passing play with a one-timer from the side of the cage at 7:11.

MacKenzie Weegar was in the box serving a unsportsmanlike-conduct roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct, which was later changed to a game misconduct, ending his night.

Backlund answered back for Calgary at 10:15, scoring from an unusual position for him - up on the left point on the powerplay after getting a feed from Noah Hanifin, with Blake Coleman getting the other helper.

The Kraken took the lead back on a whacky set of circumstances with just a handful of ticks left in the second period.

Etienne Morin broke his stick at the top of a powerplay, falling as he tried to recover which gave Kartye a breakaway that Wolf stopped, but the Flames turned the puck over right away and Kartye made good on his second crack with a wrister from distance that went high, glove side.

Will Borgen scored for Seattle 2:34 into the third to pad the lead.

Mangiapane got the Flames back within one on powerplay at the six-minute mark, converting on a pass from Backlund after a scramble out front following a point blast.

Yamamoto grabbed a loose puck in front Wolf and wrapped it around him on the powerplay with just under nine minutes to play to seal the deal.

The Lineups:

The trios, D-pairs and goalie that started the tilt in Calgary:

FORWARDS

Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

Jakob Pelletier - Clark Bishop - Walker Duehr

Emilio Pettersen - Cole Schwindt - Adam Klapka

William Stromgren - Ben Jones - Jaden Lipinski

DEFENCE

Nikita Zadorov - MacKenzie Weegar

Noah Hanifin - Nick DeSimone

Etienne Morin - Yan Kuznetsov

Brady Lyle

GOALIES

Dustin Wolf - starter

Oscar Dansk

The trios, D-pairs and goalie that started the tilt in Seattle:

FORWARDS

Yegor Sharangovich - Adam Ruzicka - Matt Coronato

Sam Honzek - Dillon Dube - Martin Pospisil

Dryden Hunt - Kevin Rooney - Lucas Ciona

Connor Zary - Brett Sutter - Parker Bell

DEFENCE

Colton Poolman - Jarrod Gourley

Ilya Solovyov - Brady Lyle

Jonathan Aspirot - Mikael Diotte

GOALIES

Dan Vladar - starter

Connor Murphy

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

In Calgary

Shots: CGY 24, SEA 28

Powerplay: CGY 2-8, SEA 2-4

FO%: CGY 56.5%, SEA 43.5%

Blocked shots: CGY 15, SEA 13

Hits: CGY 15, SEA 14

Scoring chances: CGY 10, SEA 9

High-danger scoring chances: CGY 3, SEA 2

Stats from NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick

Up Next:

The Flames fly to the Manitoba capital to take on the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday night at 6 p.m. MT.